The next time we see her is just as glorious -- but for completely different reasons. Riding back towards King's Landing, where she intends to assassinate Cersei, Arya encounters a group of Lannister soldiers on their way to assist the Freys. She comes upon the group drinking Blackberry wine, basking by a fire, and one lad singing a tune:

He rode through the streets of the city down from his hill on high, O’er the wynds and the steps and the cobbles he rode to a woman’s sigh. For she was his secret treasure, she was his shame and his bliss. And a chain and a keep are nothing, compared to a woman's kiss For hands of gold are always cold, but a woman’s hands are warm. . .

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As Vanity Fair keenly notes, these lyrics are derived from George R.R. Martin's third Song of Fire and Ice novel, A Storm of Swords. But more importantly, they're the perfect, airy introduction to popular music star, Carpool Karaoker, Justin Bieber party cohort, Ed Sheeran. Yes, that was really him, sitting on a log in medieval armor, smiling like a goofball as Arya settled in for a swig and a declaration of maximum violence. Why?

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Sheeran is not the first musician to grace Game of Thrones' small screen. Animal Circus's Joel Fry, Coldplay's Will Champion, Dr. Feelgood's Wilko Johnson, Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, and the members of Mastodon, Of Monsters and Men, and Sigur Rós have all appeared in various seasons, hidden in the background and even granted the sacred close-up. Sheeran was a get for the Thrones team because Maisie Williams, the actress who plays Arya, is his biggest fan. Proof:

P.s I was on T.V during @edsheeran set & I don't know why I'm freaking out so bad.

The question was always when -- and if he'd last. With the show's penchant for death, Benioff could have easily written a one-and-done part for Sheeran that saw the cool kid killed off while wailing bloody murder. Instead, the show takes advantage of his vocals, and even the meta-love Williams has for the pop star. The scene returns Arya to a place she hasn't been in ages: a state of normalcy. She's a teen girl again, swooning at boys and drinking a little to loosen the edge. She's flirting and having a ball, with Ed frickin' Sheeran staring at her with dreamboat eyes. This is the Arya dream… of another life. She still has to kill Cersei, and maybe even these boys. But first... selfies!